


Piracy

by NervousOtaku (orphan_account)



Series: Tales of a 144 Player Fansession! [38]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Friendship, LARPing, Playing Pirates, Roleplay, SBURB Fan Session
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 01:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11841141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/NervousOtaku
Summary: Or: A Trio Of Avid Pirate Roleplayers Try To Encourage A Depressed Friend To Get Out Some More And Have Some Fun By Essentially Throwing Her In The Ocean





	Piracy

"Did you know that Elosia began drinking?"

Cheryl and Mckenna looked up in horror.

"No... please tell me you're joking." Cheryl all but begged. She'd met Elosia before the game started, once. They'd both been at a seminar-type-thing to deal with anger. Cheryl liked to think that she had a good handle on her own anger-problems, but from what she'd heard, Elosia hadn't. They'd kept in touch for a short while, but fell out of touch when Cheryl's family moved to the coast. Last she'd heard, Elosia had become friends with the... less savory side of the session. But given that they had a better chance of understanding her, she hadn't pried. Now she was wishing she had.

"Apparently she was watching all the couples and was reminded of her boyfriend. She snapped and dug into a stash that her guardian apparently left behind." Alexis nodded grimly.

"That's horrible!" Mckenna said sympathetically.

"I shouldn't have left her..." Cheryl groaned, putting her head in her hands.

"That's right, you knew her. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news." her friend apologized.

Cheryl had met Mckenna and Alexis on a roleplay forum. The three of them had a mutual interest in the ocean, sailing, and pirates. Mckenna's interest was more specifically geared towards _Moby Dick,_ though she'd never gotten the chance to read the book. She said every copy she ever acquired mysteriously vanished. Still, it was close enough that the three of them had bonded easily enough and become very close friends. When Alexis had pestered her, saying that she was in trouble after helping a friend, Cheryl hadn't hesitated to boot up the free game she'd received and been completely uninterested in. Mckenna had been forced to pirate a copy from online when she'd wound up in similar trouble. At this point, Cheryl was just glad that Mckenna's kindergarten friend Pik had been kind enough to help her out.

"I know!" Mckenna suddenly declared, springing up. "Let's pay her a visit! Her planet is mostly water, right?"

"I think so...?"

"And one of the things Alexis has is a boat! Why don't we invite her to be part of our crew and see if she'll let us sail around a bit? Wouldn't that be fun?"

Mckenna's enthusiasm was infectious. It probably had something to do with her Classpect, since Rage wasn't solely anger. It was also determination and will. Being the Maid of Rage, Mckenna could motivate people to get off their asses and do things, or she could make berserker warriors out of them. Right now, Cheryl got the feeling that she was unintentionally doing the former. Not that Cheryl could say it wasn't just Mckenna being Mckenna. For however calm she was, the girl was easily excitable.

So with her friends hanging over her shoulders, Cheryl slipped on her 3D-hologlasses and opened up PesterChum.

**Acrimonycorsair (AC) began pestering schizoidhurler (SH)**

**AC: Hey, Elosia! I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Cheryl. We went to an anger-management seminar together some years ago?**

For a very long time, there was no response. Cheryl felt her heart start squeezing it's way up into her throat, and Alexis gave her shoulder a comforting pat.

**SH: ohey  
** **SH: hows it going**   
**AC: I'm doing alright. Listen, I was wondering if you'd like to meet some of my friends?  
SH: duno  
AC: Just a few. Your planet has a lot of water, right?  
SH: yea  
AC: Well, we like to goof around and go sailing. Pretend we're pirates and the like.  
AC: If we were to come over, would you let us use your planet for the backdrop of a round or two of roleplay?  
AC: And would you like to join us?**

Again, there was a stretch of no response.

**SH: i gues**   
**SH: how many  
AC: Well, usually it's just me, Alexis, and Mckenna, but lately Mckenna's old friend and his new girl have been joining us. We're one crew, and they're the other, and we sail around trying to beat the other. Usually we'll bet something so that it's more fun.  
SH: oh  
SH: ok  
SH: sure  
AC: Great! When should we come over?  
SH: il be waiting**

**schizoidhurler (SH) stopped pestering Acrimonycorsair (AC)**

"She said yes!" Alexis hooted.

"I'll get Pik and Aranea!" Mckenna cheered.

"Is that her name? I only ever knew her as spider-ghost."

"Pik's starting to get kinda defensive. I think he has something of a crush on her." Mckenna smirked.

"I dunno, she seems rather cold for him. He's always so smiley and peppy and she's..."

"A deadbeat?"

The trio shared a snort at the pun and set about getting ready.

Half an hour later, they, Pik, and his ghost friend were walking up to Elosia's place.

"So I thought the ghosts couldn't leave the planets?" Alexis asked, tilting her head at Aranea.

"It's my influence on her. Since she's always following me, we've built up something of a bond. I think Loyal accidentally cemented it when zhe was hiding from Dru on LODAG." Pik smiled cheerily.

"Oh, yeah, _that's_ still a thing..." Mckenna said grimly.

" _What's_ a thing?" Alexis frowned.

"Shush!" Cheryl scowled, knocking at the door. Almost instantly, Elosia answered. The poor girl looked _awful_. Cheryl could smell the alcohol on the Bard, almost making her cringe. "There you are! So, where's a good place to start? Since it's your planet hosting us, you should get to pick!"

Elosia shrugged, sighing, "It's all the same really... We can get down this way, there's a relatively gentle updraft..."

Apparently Elosia's drinking had numbed her to the world a fair amount, because 'relatively gentle' translated to 'rather rough but not enough to break bones' for everyone else. The draft tossed their hair and clothes about, but allowed them to descend from the sky to one of the few remaining landbound land masses. While the rest of them fussed over their appearances and whatnot, Alexis retrieved their boats from her Sylladex. They had two, both of them small things, large enough for crews of six but operable by one. The one Pik and Aranea used was painted black with dark blue and bright red accents. They'd named it the _Spinneret._ The one they used was pink and red, with floral-patterned sails. It was called _Granny Rosy._

"Alright! So, when we play, I captain one ship, and Aranea captains the other. She has Pik on her side, and I have Alexis and Mckenna. During play, I'm Milady De'Ath, and Mckenna is Ishy. Pik took to being called First Mate Pickle. Do you want to have a pirate-name?" Cheryl asked as the others checked the ships out.

Elosia shrugged, not meeting her gaze as she shuffled her feet. "Y'didn't hafta invite me along... I woulda let you play here without me..."

"But we wanted to play with you! We're friends, aren't we?"

The other girl was quiet, shrugging.

Cheryl held back her sigh. "Well... which crew would you like to be on?"

"... How about Pik and Aranea."

"Alrighty! We'll have even crews then!"

"Hey! We're ready to place bets!" Pik called, drawing their attention.

Cheryl gently tugged Elosia over, nudging her to stand near the _Spinneret_. "Alright. I'll put gooey spongecakes in the pot. I just made some not long ago and don't think I can finish them all on my own." she said as she stood with her own crew.

"I'll add in a free nap at my place. I know how much everyone loves sleeping there." Mckenna grinned.

"You _literally_ have a planet of sleep! You _still_ haven't gotten any lore out of your consorts because they're all hibernating!" Pik snorted. "I'll see Cheryl's spongecakes and add in a pound of licorice. I don't care for the stuff, but my guardian hid it everywhere throughout the house. It's too bad I don't dream on Derse, or I'd let the carapacians at the stuff in my room."

"The Prospitians don't like licorice? Really?" Alexis snorted. Without missing a beat, she continued, "I'll allow one month of unlimited access to my games."

Before Cheryl could tell Elosia that she didn't have to bet anything, the Bard quietly added, "I'll bet the black opal grist I found the other day."

"Black opal grist?" everyone echoed.

"Yeah. For some reason it didn't get relocated into the communal pool. I guess it's really rare." Elosia nodded.

"I've never heard of that... My session wasn't as big as this one, and we went for longer than your Seer of Time says you will, but we never encountered anything like that." Aranea frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

Elosia shrugged as Cheryl shot at glare at the ghost. The Bard pulled out her phone, swiped through a few things, then showed them her screen. It was her grist cache. Most of it was the communal pool's tally, with only a few variations here and there. The center of the screen showed an oval-shaped piece of grist that was mostly black, with little triangles of randomly flashing color.

"I haven't found anything to do with it, but I don't make much anymore... everything I do make mostly only requires build grist and amber. That sort of stuff. But I found it when I beat an underling near Uranus's cave, so I guess it's a rare drop or something..." Elosia murmured as all their jaws dropped.

"Holy shit, Elosia just upped the stakes." Alexis said in admiration, grinning. "Should start inviting you all the time, throw in Kierra and the other gamblers."

"To the ships!" Mckenna declared dramatically.

Since _Granny Rosy_ had won the last battle, the _Spinneret_ got to push off first. A five-minute head-start, essentially. Not that it exactly mattered. In any race, whichever crew had Alexis would always win thanks to her windy powers filling the sail. So it was essentially the other crew having five minutes to lay an ambush for when they came hurtling after them.

Which was exactly what they did. Elosia knew the waters, and had apparently directed the _Spinneret_ with windy powers of her own. The opposing ship had taken up an ideal position between two outcroppings, good for both attacking and defending, with a nasty whirlpool guarding them. It was only thanks to Alexis whipping up a huge gust of wind that they didn't get pulled down.

"We didn't think this through." Mckenna hummed, drumming her fingers against her thigh.

"Don't worry. We've got more experience. The only true sailor on their team is a ghost who can't touch much, especially so far away from LODAG." Alexis said confidently.

"They have distance on us, though. First Mate Pickle uses a bow and arrow, and he's pretty good at it." Cheryl pointed out. She didn't remember what Elosia used.

"We have your hook and my harpoon, Milady. That's gotta count for something." Mckenna pointed out.

"Your harpoon, sure. My hooks aren't entirely for ranged combat, more of dragging things closer so I can gouge..."

They all exchanged triumphant looks. Cheryl retrieved a large, sturdy hook from her Strife Deck while the other two tossed the anchor over. The sail was lowered to prevent it from getting caught in the hook. Standing at the edge of the deck, she twirled the huge piece of metal about her head, preparing to let it loose.

"Here we go!" she barked, seconds before it flew out of her hand.

The startled yelps confirmed the catch, and the three of them gave out a triumphant roar, bracing themselves to pull. The _Spinneret_ began inching her way out of her niche, pulled inevitably towards the death-pool that had defended her.

"Remember, when she starts going under, keep her from drowning!" Mckenna reminded Alexis.

"Just pull, Ishy, pull!"

But suddenly something came shrieking out of the air at them. Inches away from Cheryl's fingers, the rope of her hook was cut. They all squeaked in surprise, falling to the deck as they lost the hook.

"What the bloody... was that Elosia's?!" Mckenna demanded.

"Looks like it, I think she just caught it." Alexis nodded as they got up.

"Alright, we need a new plan..." Cheryl scowled, thinking.

"One of my harpoons has a steel-mesh fiber. Can't exactly cut that." Mckenna offered.

"Alright... Alexis, steer us over the the side so that when we try again, we can hit them on the rock." Cheryl instructed. "Instead of just pulling with our hands, we're gonna use _Granny Rose_."

Plan in hand, they got moving. Alexis opened up the sail and started moving them through the water. Cheryl tied down the harpoon while Mckenna got ready to throw.

But once the weapon had been launched, the _Spinneret_ took off, dragging them along.

"Aranea anticipated us trying again!" Alexis yelled, trying her hardest to slow them down.

"So we'll use that against them! You two stay here on the boat, I'll shimmy across to theirs and board them!" Cheryl replied as they braced themselves against the pitching and rolling of the vessel.

"Careful, alright? If you fall in, you count as a casualty!" Alexis advised as she grabbed onto the slippery metal-fiber rope.

Nodding, she began sliding her way out over the water. She really had to hold on, the spray of the water dousing both her and the cord. Chances of her falling in had gone up exponentially. Better move fast.

So, hanging upside-down like a sloth, she scooted along faster, closing the distance between herself and the opposing ship. As she got closer, she could see Elosia was working on freeing them again. The Heir was operating the ship on Aranea's orders, leaving the Bard to chop at the mesh. She was using something that Cheryl wasn't familiar with. It looked like a flattened hoop of silver. But sparks flew when she hacked at the harpoon's binding with it, so it must have been sharp. And the jerk Cheryl felt on the rope only proved it.

Being very bold, she let go with one hand, producing a hook.

"Hey!" she yelled, distracting Elosia long enough to toss the hook and swing aboard.

"We've been boarded!" Aranea yelled as her feet hit wood.

Pik spun the wheel roughly, almost tossing not only her, but Elosia as well. However, the Bard recovered better than the Witch, and launched herself at her.

"I won't go down so easily!" Cheryl yelled, wrestling with the other girl. If she could just subdue Elosia for long enough, then she could take out Pik and it would essentially be game. Aranea usually surrendered once Pik went down.

Elosia didn't answer, rolling them over again as she bared her teeth.

Pik suddenly spun the wheel again, and they were both caught unaware. Shrieking in surprise, they rolled overboard.

Not expecting the sudden submersion, Cheryl floundered for a minute. A rough hand grabbed the scruff of her neck and heaved her up. She was tossed onto a sandy shore, Elosia panting nearby.

A breathless laugh left her, making the Bard look up in confusion as the boats sped away, still neck-deep in the game.

"That was fun! Awesome!" Cheryl wheezed.

"Was it?" Elosia asked indifferently.

"Hahaha! Yep! I don't think I've been tossed over for _months!"_

"That's a good thing...?"

"It's more interesting if you can't predict things! Aw! I wonder who'll win now?" Cheryl grinned, standing up and shaking like a dog. Elosia didn't do anything to dry off, letting water drip down her face. "You should play more often!"

The Bard shrugged. One of the bizarre little bears that made up her Sylladex appeared, and she tore it open, revealing a set of fresh clothes.

"Aren't you gonna dry off first?" Cheryl asked.

Elosia shrugged again, making Cheryl sigh.

"... Thanks."

The Witch looked up in confusion.

"... Haven't left the house for a while. Got boring."

Slowly, Cheryl smiled.

It was a start. Maybe with some work they could get her to stop drinking.


End file.
